Respite breaks help isolated veterans

From breaks for service families to activity courses for children, The Royal British Legion is here to help you and your family get away from the stresses of everyday life. Ian Thompson is a caseworker, helping to provide this care for the Legion.

12 June 2017

What does being a case worker entail?

Caseworkers are the first people that you’ll see once you’ve contacted the Legion. So I’ll go and take a report and send it back and it goes to the relevant section of the Legion and they do their part.

“His life changed from just that little break.”

They’ll not necessarily pay your debt off, but they’ll point people in the right direction, to go to places like Step Change to consolidate their debt and get the money down that you’re paying out, but still pay it off.

How did you come to work at the Legion?

I retired five years ago, and I decided that I wanted to do something with my life as a volunteer rather than sit at home and do nothing. So I answered an ad in the local paper and went on a course at the weekend to learn how to be a case worker.

I was in the Royal Signals for nine years during the sixties. Having served helps as the camaraderie is there. I was lucky as I didn’t go into any conflict areas, but you can understand when you talk to these guys a little bit more having been in the Army.

How do respite breaks work?

The Legion also helps with people who are isolated, to enhance their lives by finding new friends, people the same age. People they can talk to and identify with.

One guy was in his late eighties, and he’d just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He contacted the Legion so I went along to see him. He lived in a one-bedroom flat and he was quite lonely. So we sent him on a respite break, and his life changed from just that little break. He was able to go down and meet other ex-Service people, he was there for a week and it was wonderful for him.

Troop Sergeant Melissa May goes on a respite break

Getting home to see the kids can be difficult for any working parent, even more so when you’re in the British Army. Troop Sergeant May doesn’t have much free time to spend with her daughters but we were there to send them on a respite break, giving them some well-deserved family time.